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Home / Civil Rights / State Sanctioned Murder: Officers Found Not Guilty In Kelly Thomas Slaying

State Sanctioned Murder: Officers Found Not Guilty In Kelly Thomas Slaying

Posted on January 16, 2014

In what can only be described as a despicable display of injustice, two ex-police officers were found not guilty Monday afternoon for the murder of Kelly Thomas. Thomas was a 37-year-old homeless man, diagnosed with schizophrenia who was beaten, tased, and suffocated to death by three policemen. How these lawyers were able to form a jury of men and women who could acquit these men, I cannot fathom. Reports coming out also state that the District Attorney’s office won’t even try the 3rd officer who took part in this atrocity.

Having watched the video, which is disturbing to the point of almost eliciting tears and nausea, I can say without a doubt that these men were murderers who went above and beyond any state-defined (really “undefined”) “necessary” use of force to inflict as much bodily damage to Thomas as they possibly could. The man was beaten with clubs, forced to the ground where he was pinned, then repeatedly kicked, punched, clubbed, and tased in the face. Tased in the face.

While the video below is a troubling view, and one that isn’t easily forgotten, I encourage you to watch it all the same to remind yourself of the cruelty and viciousness that can be taken out when certain men and women are placed above the law. This is an example of the government’s monopoly on legal violence. Even more sickening is that many individuals in society, including apparently those on this jury, also view State agents as above the law, and hold a much different standard for what is an “acceptable” use of violence when it is applied by law enforcement.

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You are a brave, courageous, and above all, a truly humane citizen, author. Throughout your article, your geniune sense of humanity and justice is very much echoed. I have always said that No State or government agency should be interested in winning a case unjustly as that injustice threathens and makes inferior, the authority of the State/agency, and calls everything into question. We The People MUST NOT allow corrupt individuals to manage our societies. This entire case must be retrialed and the perpetrators brought to justice. The nation is watching… !

I have not heard anything before about our Governor approving people be killed like this and seriously doubt, she even knew about it. It would be my guess that the Blue Wall of policemen and executives also, were partially to blame too. But this kind of behavior by a policeman should not be exempt from punishment, Loos of their badges and policeman title should come first, and the same sentence they would give an ordinary citizen who may have done this..

I just watched it and there is no excuse for what these policemen or ex policemen did. Apparently, it was in Washington State not SC. I did not think our Governor would allow something like this to stand. He was killed by these two men and his resisting arrest or whatever they were trying to get him to do is just plain wrong and caused his death. So they should have been sentenced just like a regular joe.

It's an injustice, but the problem is there are two different kinds of laws for the have and the have nots. They look at a poor person that has nothing as to being nothing as if their lives mean nothing. As long as people treat the poor and unfortunate like their lives mean nothing, this kind of thing will continue to happen. These so called defenders of the law, should be made to pay for this injustice, because we never know when it could happen to us.

What? You have to be kidding! The fault belongs to the jury? What about those murdering thugs called “Police Officers”? Think about it for one moment: what if they behaved like this with you are your kith and kin? It is a very fine line being trodden today with these egotistical maniacs who are in a position of power.

Yet Ohio faces a lawsuit for inhumane and unconstitutional punishment for having a convicted KILLER/RAPIST of a pregnant woman take 15 minutes to "sigh" and fall asleep permanently with a dose of 2 drugs!
Shame on us society! We tolerate and even encourage far too much of the aberrant behaviors of ourselves and others!

Arthur, it is a matter of degree. There is always police corruption on some level. But the attitudes at the top can make it a greater or lesser problem. If they see that their bosses have no respect for the Constitution and act above the law, it has to affect even the best of them.